A Homemade Halloween: Family Circus Train Costume!

Every year our church has a Fall Festival, which is basically just a fun get-together with costumes, games, food, and a Trunk-or-Treat at the end in the parking lot. Usually for Halloween we let the kids choose their own costumes, but we like to do a family costume for the annual Fall Festival.

My son loves trains, especially Thomas the Tank Engine, and he thought it would be really fun for us to be a train. I liked the idea, but I thought it would be more interesting to take it a step further and have us wearing costumes *in* the train cars! I'm not sure how I came up with the idea of a circus train, but as you can see above, that's what we ended up with!

My husband brought home some boxes from work and we had a great time making a big painting mess in the kitchen one night. My son was our engine, my husband was the clown (my son decorated his train car with him), my daughter Starlet was the Amazing Acrobat, Little Boo was the Monkey (she wanted to be a monkey for Halloween anyway), and I was, of course, the Ringleader. I always think it's fun to have us in costumes that are kind of fitting to our roles anyway. ;-)

For my costume I just used stuff we already had- my black boots, my running leggings, a white button-up blouse, a red velvet blazer, and a hat from an old Zorro costume we used once that I just made taller and fancier with black and red paper. Oh, and some white gloves we happened to have (I wanted my hubby to wear them but he wasn't interested. Oh, well).

For Starlet I picked up a gymnastics leotard and black tights from Target. It was a little bit of a splurge, but she may be taking gymnastics again soon, so I figure she might get some use out of it. My husband got his clown hair and nose/glasses from Wal-Mart, and I picked up Little Boo's costume from Old Navy- 50% off sale, so I got it for $12! And lastly, Monkey had his Thomas costume from many years ago when he was Thomas for Halloween.

Here are some photos of our family costume 2 years ago (just after Little Boo was born):

Our teams don't exactly match (Starlet is a Virginia Tech cheerleader!) but it had the overall effect we were looking for. And I loved that I was the referee. How fitting, right?

Can you see how I put Little Boo's hair up in tiny little pigtails? How cute is that!

This Halloween, be creative! If you have little ones who aren't TOO opinionated yet, then a family costume is a really fun way to go. Or, you could do like we did and do a family costume for a special function and then let the kids wear their own costumes for Halloween night.

I'm getting more creative later this week with Monkey's costume...stay tuned to see how it turns out!

Have you ever done a family costume before? Leave a comment and tell me about it! We need ideas for next year!! :-)

Anniversary At Home

It seems the more kids you have, the harder it is to get out of the house on a real date! I knew that my husband and I would have that problem this year on our 9th anniversary (especially since it fell on a Tuesday night) so I decided to plan a special "date night" at home for us.

I made an early dinner of mac-n-cheese for the kids and had them eating while I worked on a special dinner of steak, roasted red potatoes, and broccoli for my husband and me. I also made a strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

After I had fed the kids, I sent my husband upstairs with them to get them ready for bed (that's usually his job anyway) and I started prepping the kitchen table for our date. I brought in a lamp from our hall table, various flowers (real and faux), faux rose petals, candles, and our wedding photo. I set the table with silver chargers, our nice china, cloth napkins and crystal wine glasses.

Before he came down, I turned out all the lights except for the lamp, I lit the candles, and I turned on "At Last" by Etta James. The result was perfect!

It was weird, despite the fact that we were sitting in our kitchen, it still felt almost just like a real night out. I think that the lighting and table transformation really helped. After we ate we slow danced for awhile, and then he helped me clean up and we watched a movie together. It was wonderful!

So next time you can't go out, stay in. It can be just as special. ;-)

Another Big Birthday Bash!

Last week Starlet turned 5 and so we planned a fun party for her and 5 of her best friends (and her brother). Of course, she wanted a princess theme, and she gave me a list of activities she wanted to do: dancing, movie, stories, and a treasure hunt, plus lunch, cake and presents.

In order to fit it all in, I decided it would be fun to make it a "Royal Academy Open House." Here is the text of the invitation I sent out, along with translations in parentheses:

Her Royal Highness, Princess Starlet, formally invites you to attend an Open House at the Royal Academy to be held at the Princess’s Palace on Monday, January 17^th, beginning at 11:00am sharp.

Your schedule of events will be as follows:

11:00 - Dancing Instruction and Rehearsal (put on dance music while I finished prepping the food, did a "freeze dance" too)

11:45- Princess Literature, Legend and Lore (read 4 different princess stories)

Noon- Tea Party with Proper Etiquette Instruction from Her Royal Highness, The Queen (did I mention I dressed up too? Served mini pigs-in-a-blanket, grilled cheese sandwiches cut into heart shapes with a cookie cutter, grapes, and apples)

12:30- Special Presentation of the Royal Cinema (put on a short 30-minute princess movie for the kids to watch while I cleaned up lunch dishes and refilled cups and put out fresh napkins. I even had time to sit in my massage chair for a minute...mmm...)

1:00- Presentation of Gifts to Her Royal Highness Princess Starlet (presents!)

1:15- Presentation the Official Birthday Cake and Ice Cream to Her Royal Highness, Princess Starlet, and her honored guests (cupcake cake and ice cream! I used ice cream cups to keep it simple)

1:30- Hunt for the Royal Treasure (I made up a treasure hunt with rhyming clues that eventually led them to a gift bag with party favors)

1:45- Farewell Ball and Talent Show (more music and play till parents come!)

Please dress in a manner appropriate to such a royal occasion and contact The Queen at (xxx) xxx-xxxx with any questions or concerns.

Princess Starlet and her family look forward to your attendance at this very special event!

I am a big believer in the the idea that kids' birthday parties should be not just parties, but an experience, where they can use their imagination and be somewhere magical for the time they're there. This was the first time I'd had a kids' party where I asked the parents to just drop them off and go, but the youngest child was 4 and the rest of them were 5 or older, so I knew they'd be fine.

The key to any successful party like this, especially when your guests are young children, is plan, plan, PLAN! And prepare, prepare, PREPARE! Having a schedule is really helpful, because then you can move from one thing right to the next and not only does it cut down on chaos, but it also keeps you sane because you know what you will be doing at any given moment and you won't feel like you have to come up with entertainment on the spot.

I kept the decorations really simple for this party. I decorated the table using plastic tabelcloths from the dollar store- a white one on the bottom with a blue one folded in half and placed diagonally across the table to create a pretty layered look. The plates, cups, and napkins were all white- cheap and pretty! The centerpiece was a balloon weight from the dollar store along with a framed photo of the birthday girl with Cinderella at Disney World (from our vacation last summer).

I used helium balloons to decorate both the table and the other rooms in the house that we used for the party- 2 special princess balloons for Starlet and then pink heart balloons and white star balloons. The balloons doubled as both decorations and party favors- each girl took home a pink heart and each boy a white star. Total for decorations was about $13 (I also had regular blow-up balloons for them to kick around on the floor for the dance party).

The party favors included the balloons, pretty dry erase boards ($1 at Target), strawberry plant growing kits ($1 at Target), and ring pops ($1 for a bag of 4 at dollar store). Total spent on party favors (not counting balloons) was $16. I usually do goodie bags, but those always end up having cheap toys and candy and I liked the idea of things they could actually enjoy (and not just leave around the house for their parents to step on!). I also made sure to label each item with each child's name to avoid any potentially teary mixups.

Starlet had a great time, and I actually did too. I used the titles "Sir" or "Lady" in front of each child's name, and I spoke like I was the queen and they were royalty also. It actually caused them to sit taller and try to be on their best behavior! During lunch I turned on some soft piano music, which also helped to calm the atmosphere significantly, and added to the "Royal Tea Party" effect. All the children really enjoyed the party, even the boys. And that's the point!!

Have you thrown any beautiful thrifty parties lately? Or have any questions for me as to how to pull one off? Leave a comment!

The Great Halloween Feast

Since I pretty much fell off the face of the blogosphere last year, I thought I'd share some photos from our "Halloween Feast of 2009". It wasn't actually a feast- more of a nice dinner, but I decorated more than usual because we were supposed to have family come and have a real feast, but Starlet was sick with strep throat so we decided to keep our germs to ourselves and the rest of the family took the feast elsewhere. There's still time to dress up your table if you haven't made preparations already- here are some ideas that might help you out!

I purchased most of the decorations from the Dollar Tree- the only ones we already had were the large candleabra and the wall sconces (and the framed picture, of course, but that's always there with the sconces).

We just used a black plastic tablecloth and paper plates and napkins.

I really think that the candles were a nice effect. I especially loved putting candles right in front of these little gargoyles to illuminate them. Creepy.

Peat moss also looks quite creepy when paired with some random plastic skulls scattered about!

For dinner I made Dinner in a Pumpkin (find the recipe here) along with cornbread pudding. Yummm.

Here's hoping you have a spooooooky Halloweekend. :-)

A Fairy Special Birthday!

It's hard to believe that my little fairy princess turned ONE on Thursday! It was enough to make me want to blog. ;-) Well, the party did, anyway! I feel bad abandoning my blog, especially when I spend so much time gawking at so many other FABULOUS blogs like Penny Carnival, I Make Stuff, and Thrifty Decor Chick.

So I have returned to share this beautiful party with you all! All parties must start with a theme, and ever since Little Boo was born people have told me she looks like a little elf. Well, I wasn't really into the whole 'elf' theme, but I thought maybe we could play off of that and do a 'woodland fairy' theme! So I set up a little photo shoot in the back yard and took many adorable fairy photos of my very photogenic angel. It took me all of 5 minutes, and the photos are just precious! I included one on the invitation along with a poem that said,

Peek into the garden and what do you see?

A sweet little fairy sitting under a tree.

Her name is Little Boo and she’s turning one!

Won’t you join us for an afternoon of magic and fun?

Then of course I added the date, time, and place (by the way, I did not write this poem- I found it on another website, but for the life of me I can't find it now! Sorry!). I wanted to include a picture of the invite on here but they were e-mail invites (I got going on this kind of late...happens when it's the third child!) and I couldn't figure out how to turn my Word document into an image file.

Anyway! Let's move on to decorations, shall we?

This was the setup for the food table. I just used a green sheet which I spray-painted with some glitter paint (you can't really see it in this photo) and then I bought fake flowers from the dollar store and popped the blossoms off the stems (the kids had a blast helping me with that part) and sprinkled them about the table in a whimsical fashion!

On the menu were these lovely little nests filled with dijon chicken salad...

Some delicious toadstools...

A garden bounty platter (aka, veggie tray)...

And of course some fairy fruit salad!

Here are a few of the cupcakes on display- I didn't want to overwhelm the table by putting them all out, but they were so pretty I had to display a few of them! I purchased just the iced cupcakes from Wal-Mart (their whipped icing is SOOOO GOOOOD!) and then I purchased the tiny sugar flowers and butterflies from a baking supply store. I also bought edible glitter which I sprinkled over several cupcakes.

You might have also noticed in the 'tablescape' that there was a little stand of minature cupcakes off to the side- this stand was actually a votive candle holder, but the mini cupcakes fit into it perfectly! I made Little Boo's smasher cake separately, and I had plenty of batter left over (her cake was just 6" around) so I thought the little bitty cupcakes would be kind of fun and cute. :-)

We played two little games at the party; for the first, we had Little Boo sit in her high chair in the living room. All the guests gathered around her in a semi-circle, and everyone got a sheet of paper and a pen. When I said, "go," everyone had 10 seconds to draw a picture of her. After 10 seconds, they had to pass their paper to the person on their left. I then started the time again and the next person had to continue the drawing. We repeated it several times until the portraits were complete! There was quite a lot of laughter and groans, especially when people got a picture and they couldn't even tell what it was!! I gave the younger kids pieces of paper and put out crayons so they could just draw their own pictures without having to participate in the paper-passing. Little Boo loved being the center of attention!

The second game began with me reading a tiny scroll, supposedly left for us by the fairies. In it the fairies explained that they found out it was Little Boo's birthday (Serendipity Squirrel saw us getting ready through the kitchen window) and so they had snuck into the house and left fairy wishing stones for all the guests to help us celebrate. I had gone to a local store that specializes in gems and unique rocks and raided their $0.25 bin for cool-looking rocks, and the kids helped me hide them all over the living room (above Little Boo's reach!). We had little gold and silver favor bags with tags with each guest's name on it for them to put their fairy wishing stones in. The reverse side of the tag read,

It's time to celebrate the birthday of a precious little girl!

You are a special person in her "fairy" little world.

We are so happy to share this magical time with you;

This wishing stone will bring you luck and help your dreams come true!

And yes, I did think that poem up myself! :-)

A few other little party touches:

- We printed up some wallet-sized prints of Little Boo's fairy photos for our guests to take home with them (we had mostly family come).

- Plates and napkins were a simple solid pale yellow from the dollar store.

- I used green leaf lettuce as 'bedding' for the nests and the veggie tray, which was a simple touch that really made them look nice.

- We had notecards and pens and a basket with a sign asking guests to please write a note for Little Boo for her to open and read on her 16th birthday.

- A few of the decorations, the notes, the portraits from the game, and prints of photos I took at the party will all go into a time capsule for Little Boo to open when she turns 16.

Just so you know, I found many of the recipes I used by simply going to a recipe site and typing in search terms of things having to do with my woodland fairy theme, like "fairy", "nests", "flowers", etc. This would work with any theme you choose- just envision it in your mind and start typing in words that describe what you're going for!

Hopefully I will be back soon with more beautiful thrifty ideas for you! School starts this week, so it'll just be Little Boo and me at home. I'm going to try to make naptime productive!

New Restaurant.com Promo Code!

Hey guys, this is a good one! Time to plan all those fun summer dates with your sweetie, or give yourself a night off from cooking and take the family out to eat!

Click through this link and use the promotional code DISH at checkout.

Enjoy!

A Rockin' Fathers Day!

Well, since we were in a "rockin'" mode anyway this week, I thought, why not bring some rock fun into Father's Day? So I let each child choose 3 rocks from their rock collections to paint for each of their 3 grandpas. Each grandpa will get a little piece of foam with two rocks glued to it (one from each child) and the words, "Grandpa, we think you ROCK! Happy Fathers Day!" I will probably also write the kids names next to the rocks they painted.

Here is some of our rock painting fun (well, right after they painted the rocks and decided to paint pictures too):

And here's one more fun idea for Father's Day- we have lots of great brothers-in-law (the kids uncles) and we will be seeing many of them on Sunday. I wanted to do something for them, but keep it economical, so I found these giant Hershey Kisses at Big Lots for $2 apiece and I made these little cards to go along with them:

The poem at the bottom reads, "Hugs are nice, and high-fives are too, but on Fathers Day only a KISS will do!" I also wrote, "Happy Fathers Day" on the little 'flag' coming off the Hershey Kiss. 

Are you doing anything thrifty and fun for Fathers Day? Leave a comment and share!

Save Green By Going Green: Part II: Reuse, Recycle!

I know, I know- on Monday I said this would be a three part series, but I decided to combine the reuse-recycle part because 1) I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday and 2) I found it really difficult to separate them into two different topics, because they are so similar! So today I will finish off this Earth Day series with everything I didn't cover last time. :-)

First, let me introduce you to our garden! The photo above is of our backyard garden area. The tree in the foreground is our apple tree, which is awesome to have in the backyard because the kids can have a snack whenever they want it while they're playing outside- they just pluck an apple from the tree! Right behind that are our two garden boxes that my husband built a few weeks ago. They are filled with free mulch from the dump and purchased compost. We're just trying boxes for the first time this year, so we're going to give it a shot and see how it goes.

Just behind the boxes you can kind of see a leafy plant sticking up- that's actually our grapevine, which I have been convinced every year that we've killed off, yet it keeps coming back and last year it actually produced grapes! This year we're going to nurture it and support it properly and hopefully be able to enjoy its bounty.

That large brown square in the back is our corn "plot." My husband got a little overzealous with the tiller and made something more like a cornfield, but I told him that as long as he takes care of it and does the work, he can grow as much corn as he'd like. I am tempted to buy him a straw hat and overalls, though...

Here are our little seedlings poking up from their minature greenhouse on our kitchen table ($6 at Wal-Mart for the just-add-water peat pots and tray with cover):

The cucumbers are raring to go; the tomatoes are a little more hesitant, but coming; the watermelons are following close behind, and the peas and peppers are still sound asleep. But it's been really fun to watch them grow practically before our very eyes- it seems every time I look, something else has sprung up! And we just started these this past week! We also have a few marigolds starting to help with pest control (natural bug repellants).

Now, on to the topic for the day! Reuse, recycle!

1. Gardening

- Grow a home vegetable garden, and make your own compost with kitchen scraps and other organic waste.

- Save money by using natural fertilizers from your own kitchen rather than purchasing pricey manufactured ones, and growing your own tasty veggies rather than buying them from the store.

- Save the planet by keeping organic waste out of plastic trash bags (where it will take much longer to decompose) and out of landfills

- BONUS: fresh homegrown vegetables are SO much tastier than store-bought, and using compost is less toxic than manufactred chemical fertilizers

2. Home products

- Make your own cleaning products- go here for recipes.

- Save money by mixing simple natural ingredients that cost a fraction of what a manufactured chemical cleaner costs

- Save the planet by reusing spray bottles, rather than continually tossing them and buying new ones, and using non-toxic formulas

- BONUS: non-toxic formulas are healthier for you and your home!

3. Freecycle

- Join a Freecycle group in your community to pass on items that you might otherwise throw away, like old magazines, containers, broken items, etc. One man's trash is another man's treasure!

- Save money by finding great items for FREE!

- Save the planet by keeping items out of landfills and giving them a longer life

- BONUS: You can easily declutter your home and have the joy of blessing someone else with your stuff!

4. Recycle (duh)

- Contact your county to obtain a recycling bin and set up a pickup time, or to find locations where you can drop off your recycling

- Save money by using less trash bags- recyclables go in the recycling bin, which means your garbage bags won't fill up as quickly (every little bit helps!)

- Save the planet by RECYCLING! (you know how that works) ;-)

5. Foaming soap

- Reuse your empty foaming soap pump dispenser and make your own foaming soap solution by adding 1 tablespoon of liquid soap and filling up the rest of the container with warm water. Screw on the lid and shake.

- Save money by not having to buy more soap

- Save the planet by reusing your dispenser and keeping it out of a landfill, and using less liquid soap.

- BONUS: You can enjoy your favorite scented soap, even if it's not usually available in a foam!

6. Get creative

- Save your old containers and other items to "dress up", repurpose old magazines toilet paper tubes, styrofoam, and other clean cardboard and plastic waste for use in kids' art projects.

- Save money by making your own cool artsy stuff, and not having to buy art supplies for the kids.

- Save the planet by keeping the stuff out of landfills.

- BONUS: Creative outlets are great for people of all ages!

Here are a few of my "dressed up" items- first, a time capsule for Princess's first birthday. I used an old #10 can which I cleaned out, spruced up with paper and embellishments, and filled with photos and decorations from her party, plus notes from friends and family. She will have the pleasure of opening it on her 16th birthday.

This is an old board book that I turned into a scrapbook using our family's state fair photos:

First, I sanded down the pages, then I cut decorative paper down to size and adhered it to the pages with spray adhesive:

Here is one of the finished layouts:

Also, check out my post here for a fun idea on what to do with old home decorating magazines!

I hope you have enjoyed this very lengthy post on this very special Earth Day, and I encourage you to leave a comment and share your own ideas on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle! Every little bit helps!

Loving Your Local Library

Image from bestuff.com

There have been times in my life when I've been an avid library user and other times when I have lacked the library love! But ever since I've been a stay-at-home mom on a budget, I have really come to appreciate the vast array of services offered by my local county library system. Here are just a few of the perks I've come to love, and if you're on a "library hiatus" then I would recommend checking with your local library to see how many of these services they offer...

1. Online catalog and request service- This is the BEST for those of us who are time-crunched! Whenever I hear of a good book or I find an author I really like, I can just hop on the internet in my free time and see if the item I'm looking for is in the county system. Then, if it's there, I can request it with a click, and regardless of the library where it's located, I can name my preferred library for a pick-up location. The library calls me when it's in, and all I have to do is pop in, grab it off the hold shelf, check out and I'm done. No more dragging kids through the stacks to find what I want! (not quite as fun as perusing the shelves, but decidedly faster)

2. Online account services- I love that I can see what I have checked out online and renew items when I'm not going to have a chance to take them back to the library before they're due. It has definitely saved me a late fine or two!

3. Story Time- My kids love to go to the library for the weekly story times and other programs offered by the library. My local library offers different times for different age groups, and it has helped my kids develop their "sitting and listening" skills from a very early age. The childrens' librarians know them by name and are always happy to see them, which makes the library experience even more fun and special for my kids.

4. Unlimited books!!- Often with life on a budget one of the biggest struggles is constantly having to tell your children 'no.' I love taking my kids to the library because I can tell them 'yes!' My book limit is usually determined only by how many books they can carry and the number of books I think I can safely keep track of (cars and bedrooms seem to swallow books around here).

5. Multimedia Choices- It's easy to forget that a library is not just about books- these days, your local library can be your free movie rental store! Many libraries carry recent releases, and as long as you get them back in a week, they're as free as they come. 

I also love to stop by the library before a long car trip to choose a good book on cd- I'm leaving on a trip next week and I got The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to listen to on the way to my destination. Trust me, it makes 6 hours in a car a LOT more bearable!

The library is another great place to get some fun kids' dvds. Each week my kids and I pick out a dvd (or two or three...) to watch. We've been able to enjoy a lot of shows that we aren't able to normally watch on tv.

One of my other favorite non-book choices to check out at the library are the wide selection of magazines. I especially enjoy the home decorating and craft magazines, because I can get some great inspiration from looking through them.

6. Fun contests and reading programs- Last summer my kids and I enrolled in the summer reading programs at our local library and we all won books! They also had fun mini-prizes that the kids could pick out each week from a "treasure box", which was a fun added bonus to our weekly library trips and it encouraged us to read together.

These are just a few perks for a library cardholder, but they are just the benefits I've appreciated most- the library experience is different for everyone, and everyone can find something to love about the library. 

A few more tips:

- We've found that it helps to have a set library day every week. That way our book selection stays fresh and we're more likely to stay on top of returns and avoid late fees.

- Don't be afraid to contact the library to request materials that don't appear in their system. Libraries are paid for with your tax dollars- they answer to you, and they need your input to serve you better!

- Get to know your librarians. They are great resources for recommendations and information about library programs.

- If you have family members who don't come to the library with you on a regular basis (like Dad or an older child in school), pick up something for them while you're there- it's like a little treat to let them know you're thinking of them. I used to go to the library while my son was in preschool so I'd pick up a few books for them and leave them on his seat in the car. He loved the surprise!

Are you a library lover? Leave a comment and let me know what you love about your local library!

The Second Day of Valentines: Reeses Treat

One of my hubby's favorite treats is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, so today I left him some tucked into the pocket of his work shirt with a note that said, "...because the second day of Valentines is twice as nice!" 

Not Really a Makeover, but: My Secret Room...

The crayon isn't a fixture. It's just for scale.

Welcome to my secret room. I decorated it myself using my home decorating magazines and my inner child. It was like going on an unlimited furniture and decor shopping spree. We had so much fun creating it. I got the idea from the Small Notebook, and I love that my room pops up from a file folder so I can fold it up when I'm not staring at it and daydreaming. 

I have all my favorite things- a fireplace, a beautiful wreath, pretty pottery, and two perfectly-behaved (and of course non-shedding) loveable pets whom I named Goldie and Puff. They aren't all to scale (whose fireplace comes up to their waist?) but it's my room so I don't care. If my kids were a little bit older I would love to make rooms like this with them. 

Please stop by again soon and we can sit by the fire and share a cup of tea. Goldie and Puff love to have company. Maybe one day you can even make your own secret room. If you do, be sure to let me know so I can drop in for a visit!

Rockin' Kids' Parties Part III: Food and Fun!

Starlet and her guests enjoying some party pizza!

Welcome to the third installment of my Rockin' Kids' Parties series (FINALLY!)! Starlet's party was wonderful, and she and all the kids (and the adults!) had a great time. Here are some ideas to help your next party be just as fun!

 Food

- For a character party, I say go with your theme! For example, for my daughter's Dora party last year we did mexican- quesadillas, chips & salsa, etc. It was fun and the kids enjoyed the variety. A princess party could have little tea sandwiches, a dinosaur party could have dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, and for a construction party you can have your guests "build" their own sandwiches- just be creative!

- Another option is to keep it simple! This year to simplify we just picked up some $5.55 pizzas from Little Caesars. Relatively inexpensive, and kids love pizza. We had cut up veggies with ranch dressing for dipping and some chips on the side.

- For a first birthday, I think it's fun to do all finger food- that's right, break out the fruit puffs and cheerios! It's a fun way to celebrate your little one.

Fun

- Crafts- For Starlet's party I found some really cute miniature wooden picture frames in a little kit with markers to color them at Michael's for $1.00 apiece. Since there were only going to be 7 kids, I decided that would be a fun and relatively inexpensive activity. When the kids arrived, I had our kid-sized picnic table set up in the kitchen with the kits arranged on it at each place, so when the kids came in they could sit right down and start coloring. It was a good way to keep things settled while everyone was arriving, and allowed the kids to kind of "connect" at the start of the party. My master plan was to take photos of Starlet with each guest for them to put into their frames, but...well, things don't always go as planned when you have 7 kids under the age of 5 running around!

For Monkey's tools party, I had intended to have the kids build little houses out of notched popsicle sticks (found in the craft section at Wal-Mart) but things got crazy so we didn't get around to it. That's why I recommend doing a craft at the beginning of the party.

- Games- There are the classics- Pin the Tail on the ______, Pass the Present, Duck Duck Goose, etc. I went to one party where they put candy in balloons and the kids each got a paper sack and had to pop the balloons to get the candy out. Then the hostess gave an extra prize to whoever collected the most balloon pieces at the end- clever clean-up!

For a first birthday, you can have even more fun with the games- do some baby relay races, in which participants have to transport items from one basket to another by crawling across the room. 

Another fun one for a first birthday is Baby Portrait- sit your birthday boy/girl in their high chair in the middle of the room, then give each person a slip of paper and a crayon. They have only 15-20 seconds to draw a portrait of the baby, and then they must pass the paper to the person on their right. They will then have another 15-20 seconds to work on someone else's started portrait. Continue passing 1-2 more times until the portraits are complete. We did this at Starlet's first birthday party and she loved being the center of attention, and all the adults were cracking up at their portrait creations!

-Treasure Hunt- Treasure hunts are a staple at our birthday parties, because they're a fun adventure and it's a creative way to give out the goodie bags at the end. For Starlet's party, we framed the treasure hunt around the Dora show- I made a Map, and we played the theme music before we started. As we went along, I said the Dora-isms, like, "Great! We've crossed the rickety bridge (a line of dining room chairs down our front hallway) and we've made it through the spooky tunnel (the dining room table covered in sheets) and collected our shapes (scattered on the floor of the tunnel), where do we go next?" Answer? "Bubble Forest!" (the kitchen, where the bubble machine was madly shooting out bubbles that the kids were supposed to pop, as the iPod player played the "Popping Bubbles" song). The final stop was the "Magic Door" which was just the laundry room door right off the kitchen that had a sheet of foam on it with shape outlines. Each child had to stick their shape they had collected from the tunnel in its spot on the magic door, and then the birthday girl could open the door to reveal their treasure- goodie bags! 

Monkey's birthday is in May, so the weather is much more conducive to outdoor play. For his treasure hunt I made picture clues, and gave them one clue to start- a picture of a swing- and when they went to the swing they found another clue- a picture of a trampoline- and so on until they found the treasure. 

You could do a treasure hunt to go along with any theme or character- the important part is to play to the kids' imaginations. The more excited and enthusiastic you are, the more fun they will have with it. Turn everyday objects into magical things- like my rickety bridge and my bubble forest! 

- Time Capsule- We did this for Starlet's first birthday, but it could really be done at any age. I got a big #10 can (like a coffee can) and decorated it as her time capsule. I left out some note cards and pens so that all of our friends and family could write notes to her that she could open on her 16th birthday. After the party was over, I added some of the leftover decorations, some photos I had taken that day, and of course the portraits we had done in our game. Now when she has her Sweet Sixteen, she will have an additional, extra special gift to open. :-)

Final Words of Advice

- It's easy to get carried away when planning a party- create a budget, and stick to it! When possible, keep it simple. For the goody bags I used large pink plastic cups ($1 for a large pack) and clear cellophane bags (leftover from something else). I filled the cups with bubbles (3 for $1), kaleidescope-type things (4 for $1), candy necklaces for the girls and bugs for the boys ($1 for all), lollipops ($1 for a big bag), and stickers ($1 for a book with 4 sheets, and I cut up each sheet into fourths). The kids loved them and it was a nice way to say thanks for coming!

- Make a schedule. It sounds silly, but it will help you keep your sanity to have a schedule and stick to it. As mentioned above, times when I didn't plan, my ideas didn't always happen. It's best to think through the order of events at the party to make sure things go fairly smoothly. For Starlet's party, we did the craft first, then lunch, then presents, then cake, then the treasure hunt. That's what worked best for us- decide what will work for you and go with it! 

- Have fun, and be sure to pay attention to the guest of honor to make sure he/she is having fun too. If your little one gets overwhelmed in large groups, keep it small. If they are particularly possessive of certain toys, put them away before guests arrive. Take a few moments throughout the party to take your little one aside and check in with them to make sure they're okay. It can be stressful having a birthday!

I hope these ideas have helped you plan your next birthday bash! Have fun and let me know how it goes!

Swagbucks ROCKS!

Okay, first let me apologize for totally skipping out on Makeover Monday today. I have a sick hubby and sick son, so there was not a lot of "making over" to be done today (well, other than changing sheets and washing clothes- yeah, that kind of sick! - my son's sheets and clothes, by the way, not my husband's... ;-)). 

I also still owe you some fun birthday party ideas, which is a post-in-progress, but I plan on having them for you tomorrow. Starlet's party was a great success, and I am eager to share the details with you!

But first, I just had to post about SwagBucks! (to read more about it, check out my past posts here and here) I have been wanting both soundtracks (score and regular) to the Twilight movie ever since I saw it, but I just haven't been able to justify the expense. So I've been keeping an eye on my Swagbucks account, and yesterday I started comparing the "prices" (point values, really) of the gift cards they offer and comparing them to the various websites' prices for the mp3 version of the soundtracks. Well, the best price for the soundtrack was on Amazon.com- a mere $8.99! And luckily, the Amazon.com gift card offered on Swagbucks is one of their best values- a $5 gift card for 45 Swagbucks. So I ordered two of them, and they arrived in my e-mail inbox in less than 24 hours. 

I took the codes over to my Amazon.com account, and there is a place where you can actually store gift cards in a special account for use whenever you buy something on Amazon.com. So I inputed both gift card codes and my balance was $10. I then purchased the soundtrack for the Twilight score, and used their downloading tool to put it directly into my iTunes music library on my computer. I'm listening to it now. :-)

What I love is that I now still have $1.01 in my Amazon.com gift card account, which I can use for something else (although I'll probably add in some more gift cards using Swagbucks before I do)- so really, it works just like a regular gift card. I was a little worried that it would work more like a coupon, so I am really pleased to discover how easy and efficient it was- no Swagbucks wasted. I got something I've been wanting for 2 months, at no cost, just for doing some searching on the internet! Score!

Let's just say I'm having visions of adding many Amazon.com gift cards, and my account getting bigger and bigger until I can pay for Christmas next year entirely with the Swagbucks I've earned! Because you can find pretty much anything you're looking for on Amazon.com. And by the way, I had a LOT more than 90 Swagbucks in my account (348 to be exact- and that's from being a member for 2 months), thanks to so many people signing up with me and rocking the searches, so I am eager to buy some more gift cards. 

Woohoo! Thanks Swagbucks! If you haven't signed up yet, go here to do so, and you'll be scoring gift cards before you know it! So much fun!